Wheat down as beneficial rain forecast in Russia, U.S.

By Michael Hogan

HAMBURG, May 8 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat fell on Wednesday on forecast of welcome rain in Russian and U.S. grain belts, while Russian wheat was offered cheapest in a major Egyptian import tender.

Corn followed wheat down, with corn and soybeans both seeing selling pressure after hitting multi-month highs on Tuesday.

The Chicago Board of Trade's most-active wheat Wv1 fell 0.8% to $6.37-1/2 a bushel at 1137 GMT.

Corn Cv1 fell 0.2% to $4.66 a bushel. Soybeans Sv1 fell 0.1% to $12.44-1/2 a bushel.

Dryness threatening crop stress in leading exporter ofRussian-supported wheat recently.

“Wheat is being weakened partly by forecasts today of some rain in the dry south Russian grain regions and also in parts of the U.S. hard red winter regions, which would be welcome in both areas,” said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager.

“There is some selling pressure following the highs hit on Wednesday by wheat.”

Russian wheat was offered cheapest in a major purchase tender from Egypt on Thursday, also adding to the bearish mood as Russia continues export market domination.

“Corn is again following moves in wheat, as has been happening recently," Ammermann said. "Corn is also seeing some downward pressure on expectations that the rate of U.S. plantings will accelerate.”

“Soybeans are also seeing selling pressure after their strong rises. China also seems to be concentrating its purchases on Brazilian supplies, with the flood problem likely to be a temporary issue. There is talk China has bought around 22 shipments of Brazilian soybeans for May/June shipment, depressing demand for U.S. beans.”

Dealers were cautious ahead of world supply/demand estimates on Friday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“Soybeans, wheat and corn are also facing weakness because of general expectations the USDA will give a picture of plentiful world supplies in its report on Friday,” he said.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg, additional reporting by Bernadette Christina in Jakarta; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Janane Venkatraman)